The position of the Evangelists, like the positions of the Apostle and the Prophet, must be reckoned among those provisional arrangements of the primitive Church, which formed the transition to its permanent and settled condition.… Read More The Extraordinary Office of Evangelist
James Bannerman The Church of Christ Part I, ch. 1. Many, perhaps indeed most, of the controversies which have arisen in connection with ecclesiastical theology, are to be traced back to fundamental differences of opinion regarding the essential nature and character of that society which Christ has instituted. The different or opposite notions which men… Read More Church: Five Ways Scripture Uses the Term
Thomas HallThe Pulpit Guarded, pp. 1-7 The Thesis That private persons (though they be gifted, yet) may not preach in a constituted Church without a Call. Private Persons First, by private persons, I mean such as the Apostle calls the flock, the people of God, hearers, such as must obey their teachers in the… Read More Who May Preach?
John Owen The True Nature of a Gospel Church and its Government, ch. 6. Of the Office of Teachers in the Church, or an Inquiry into the State, Condition, and Work of those called Teachers in the Scripture. The Lord Christ hath given unto his Church pastors and teachers (Eph. 4:11). He “hath set some in… Read More Pastor and Teacher: Distinct Church Offices
Andrew Willet (1562-1621) Commentary Upon the Most Divine Epistle of the Holy Apostle St. Paul to the Romans Quest. 8. Of the office and calling of an Apostle, what it was. 1. The word Apostle is taken, either aequivoce, in an equivocal and improper sense—and either in the better sort, as Andronicus and Junia are… Read More The Office of Apostle
“What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia” (Revelation 1:11). James Durham Commentary on Revelation pp. 52-59. This command of writing, was particularly set down [Rev. 1:11]. Here again, it’s renewed; and afterward, Chap. 2. and Chap. 3. is seven times repeated, with respect to every Church he writes unto: which certainly is… Read More Internal Call to the Ministry
“Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the Lord, speak, saying, The Lord hath utterly separated me from his people…” (Isaiah 56:3). Wilhelmus à Brakel The Christian’s Reasonable Service vol. 2, pp. 55-60. It is the duty of everyone who desires to be saved to turn to the church, making diligent effort to be… Read More The Necessity of Church Membership
Jus Divinum Regiminis Ecclesiastici The Divine Right of Church Government Conclusion, pp. 136-141. What is meant by church government? That particular form and order, which Christ has fixed in his Church, for the proper management thereof. How does it appear that there is a particular form of government appointed in the New Testament Church? As… Read More Proof that Presbyterianism is Biblical
“First, We distinguish between a private brotherly teaching, admonition, exhortation of one another and an authoritative public teaching. The first grounded on charity is the common duty of all Christians, by the royal Law of love, and prescribed to all, even to women, by the Law of God under pain of sin, and this especially… Read More 8 Reasons Only Ministers May Preach
Wilhelmus à Brakel, The Christian’s Reasonable Service, vol. 2, pp. 118-121. The Necessity of a Divine Commission for the Ministry of the Word Question: Is a divine commission necessary for the office of minister? Answer: Socinians and others answer negatively; however, we answer affirmatively. The need for a divine commission is first of all evident from… Read More The Need for a Divine Commission
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